Giving sub-q injections

[lagadvocate]

Since Charlie has now been diagnosed with syphilis, I tried to start his bicillan injections tonight. It was so awful. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I've done bicillan injections once before on my bridge bunny, Buddy, but those went fine.

My husband held him in place while I made the skin "tent" and proceeded to insert the needle. (Also, I shook the bicillan really well and let it warm up a bit before doing this). I could NOT pierce the skin. :? When I thought that I finally had it in and pulled the plunger back to make sure there wasno blood and slight resistance, I pushed in the medicine. But it just went all over his back. I wiped it off as best I could so that he didn't end up ingesting it, but it was really stuck so I had to shave a bit of his fur off.

Then I reloaded and my husband and I both tried but the stupid medicine would not come out. We ended up piercing Charlie about 5 times. :tears2: I almost got sick from having to put him through this, and we finally just stopped and let him go. I was crying and my husband started messing with the syringe to try to push the medicine out, but it was plugged somehow. Unbelievable.

So maybe that syringe was just screwed up, but it still was hard to pierce his skin the first time. It was not this hard with Buddy. What am I doing wrong? I finally got him diagnosed and got medicine but I'm too stupid to figure out how to give it to him. :tears2: And my poor little guy just sat there and was so good the whole time, I felt like a monster. I'm sitting here in tears again, can anyone help me figure this out please?

 

[Pipp]

A w w w w ... that must have been tramatic. What a sweet and patient bunny.

I suspect the syringe was screwed up from the tip. but I'm not experienced with injections, so hopefully somebody else can chime in here.

It really sounds like a mechanical issue of some kind, though. What gage is the needle? The same as you used before?

Hopefully the next one will be a breeze.



sas :clover:

 

[lemonaxis]

I agree with Pipp, it sounds like the needle might be the wrong size.
Sub q can be pretty easy , especially if you have done it before...

You need an excellent, strong but fine needle.

A good tent of fur but be sure its a chunky bit or needle might pierce skin twice right through to the other side of the tent.

Confidence because bun knows your feelings

Squirt a tiny amount of the med out the syringe to confirm that it is coming out easily.

A relatively quick insert of needle.

Try for a 30% to 45% angle rather than directly in at a 90% angle.

Draw back briefly as you mentioned and then empty syringe slowly.

Rub insert site after taking out the needle as the skin can burn/tingle a bit.

Talk to bun while you do this, it really distracts them a bit.

If you don't get it right, then ask the vet to show you her/his technique but to me it does sound like you do know what you are doing but something is amiss with that needle!

If bun has had five piercings in a row, let him go, I would say, as buns pain/irritance tolerance is very low and he may need to take a breather before the next attempt

Good luck, its ot easy having a sick bun You will pull through and so will little Charlie

 

[lemonaxis]

oops...wanted to add too, that you are absolutely NOT stupid!
Its wonderful that he has the care he needs.

As a last afterthought (she says hopefully),

Charlie may also have very thick skin, try a warm compress on his skin around his neck to kind of give it a more strecthy/finer/thinner feel.

Please, however, check all my SUGGESTIONS WITH YOUR RABBIT SAVVY VET FIRST!!

Good luck

 

[ra7751]

Hi,

Couple of things that most vets don't know about doing sub-q injections. This is a wildlife trick since it is usually quite difficult to do wildlife...they really don't like it.

ALWAYS dilute the penicillin with Lactated Ringers Solution. That has several benefits. Most likely if your rabbit is getting penicillin, getting supplemental fluids would also be in order.The LRSwill help thin the drug to make it easier to inject.But diluting it also buffers the incredible sting and burn of this drug being injected.

The best overall sized needle....and the one used by nearly all of the wildlife and exotic vets on small mammals...is 21g. I use a large 60mL syringe with a 21g butterfly (winged) catheter. I use the 12" catheter which allows some "wiggle" room. A regular syringe can rip the skin if the rabbits jumps back into the syringe...this can't happen with a flexible tube. Needles are single use only....and if you magnify the tip after use, you will see why. The larger plunger on the syringe helps with the "push".

Always move around when injecting meds. This will prevent sore spots, skin abscesses and scar tissue. Sub-q can be administered anywhere you can get a good scruff. Directly over the shoulders and on the flanks are my easiest places. And some rabbits just have tough skin. Had one of those too.

And you are not stupid...I give you great props for doing this...many people won't. And I have done thousands of sub-q injections....and I still have some issues on some rabbits. Just move around until you find a good spot. Keep the faith.

Randy

 

[clarzoo]

You've gotten some great advice.



I just wanted to share a story of mine to show you this can happen to the best of us, lol!!

I had worked at a vet hospital for a few years prior to having to give my own rabbit a sub-q injection (oddly enough, also for rabbit syphillis). I had given these injections to many animals, rabbits included. But I just COULD NOT get it through the skin at the base of my rabbits neck. I thought I must be so dumb! But my rabbit happened to have the absolute thickest skin right where I was trying to tent the skin. The needle just couldn't get through. I ended up finding a place to do the injections and he recovered fully and now that rabbit is over 11 years old and still going strong :biggrin2:

 

[lagadvocate]

:thumbup YES!! I got it and it went really well. Thanks for all of your suggestions and advice, all were put to use and I think we'll be able to get through this ok.

I still hate giving injections because I'm terrified of hitting a vein, and it does seem that Charlie has some thick skin there, but we'll get it done!

Thanks again, this is such a great forum!


e.t.a. Randy, thank you so much telling me about the LRS -- that was a huge help!!!

 

[clarzoo]

Aw! So glad to hear you had success! The next time should be no problem! :biggrin2: